István Rácz

Rácz István (born 1952) is a Hungarian dendrologist, curator, and museologist.

Research fields Woody plant (primarily conifer) taxonomy, ecology, conservation, and herbarium development.

Biography Received his diploma from the University of Horticulture, Budapest in 1976. From that year Istvan Racz has worked at the Botanical Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum as a member of the Dendrological Documentation project. Received doctorate and then Ph.D from the University of Silviculture in Sopron, Hungary in 1984 and 1997, respectively. As part of the dendrological documentation team led by Zsolt Debreczy research botanist, he had worked in many leading institutes worldwide, including the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, also in other major herbaria, arboreta and botanical gardens in the U.S., England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and Poland. Istvan Racz also participated in large-scale botanical expeditions led to various parts of the temperate and adjacent zones, including northern North America, Mexico, China, Chile, Japan, Taiwan, New Zealand and Tasmania. Co-author or author of numerous books and scientific articles.

Selected publications

Scientific journal articles

Rácz, I., – Huyen, D. D. (2007): Study of a low-elevation occurrence of Pinus dalatensis Ferré (Pinaceae) in Gia Lai Province, Vietnam. Studia bot. hung. 38: 133–142.

Books Vajda, L. – Rácz, I. Flora Photographica Hungarica. (text with: Zs. Debreczy & F. Németh) Képzőművészeti Kiadó, Budapest. 180 p. 1984 (in Hungarian). Debreczy, Zs. & Rácz, I.: Fenyők a Föld Körül (Conifers Around the Earth). in Hungarian with English summary. Dendrological Foundation, Budapest, 2000. pp. 552. Debreczy, Zs. – Rácz, I. (2011): Conifers Around the World. DendroPress Ltd., Budapest. pp. 1089.

Awards Award of Excellence, Ministry of Education and Culture, Hungary. 1979 Honorary Professor, Budapest Corvinus University (2013)

Fellowships Mercer Fellowship, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, United States (1988–1990) Synthesys Project (EU), Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Scotland (2011) Visiting Scientist, Kyoto University, Japan (2013)